The field of art to which this invention relates includes vehicle body structure and protective guards.
In electric lift trucks of the sit-down, front wheel drive rider type it has been customary to provide a single large main battery power source located forwardly of a rear counterweight, and sometimes also between side mounted counterweights, adjacent the front end of which battery in overlying relation is conventionally located a pivoted operator's seat member at or adjacent the operator's station. Usually an overhead protective guard is connected at four points forwardly and rearwardly of the truck with provisions for installation and removal of the battery without detachment of the guard from the truck and by manipulation of the operator's seat to a non-interfering relation to the battery. One such structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,484. Another structure utilizing a pivoted T-shaped guard connected to the truck at two points and having a combined battery and counterweight rearwardly thereof removable as a unit from the truck is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,761.